Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem has pushed back against a controversial claim made by former Minister of State at the Finance Ministry, Abena Osei Asare, regarding Ghana’s external interest payments.
Speaking during the concluding debate on the 2025 Mid-Year Budget Review in Parliament, Nyarko Ampem challenged the assertion that the country’s external interest payments had increased by GH¢1 billion despite the Ghana Cedi’s recent appreciation.
“If the cedi has appreciated against the US dollar, external interest payment should come down. It has rather increased by GH¢1 billion,” Osei Asare had argued earlier.
But Nyarko Ampem, MP for Asuogyaman, firmly dismissed the claim as “totally incorrect.” Referring to data from Appendix 2C of the Mid-Year Fiscal Policy Review, he stated that out of the GH¢3.97 billion originally programmed for external interest payments, GH¢3.79 billion was actually spent, indicating a savings of GH¢179 million.
He emphasized that these savings, driven by the strengthening of the cedi, were not only real but impactful: “Enough to build about 200 six-unit classroom blocks across the country, including Atiwa East,” he noted pointedly.
To address the confusion around the overall increase in external interest payments by GH¢795 million, as cited in Paragraph 428 of the review, Nyarko Ampem clarified that the revision had nothing to do with currency depreciation. Instead, it accounted for “additional debt service due on post-cut-off date disbursements on bilateral loans” inherited from the previous administration in 2023.
The Deputy Minister also addressed Osei Asare’s criticism that the Mid-Year Review was too technical and disconnected from real-life impacts. He countered that the presentation by Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson was one of the most accessible and simplified budget reviews in recent history.
To reinforce this point, he highlighted several tangible improvements in the economy over the past six months:
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Inflation dropped from 23.8% to 13.7%
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Petrol prices fell from GH¢14.72 to GH¢12.23 per litre
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Monthly allowances for assembly members were increased
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LEAP beneficiaries received improved and timely payments
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Import duties were significantly reduced
“These and many more are the real occurrences in the economy that the Ghanaian people can feel,” he concluded.
